


The Children of the Night

by EventHorizon



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-24
Updated: 2013-05-24
Packaged: 2017-12-12 21:28:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/816240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EventHorizon/pseuds/EventHorizon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Shappey has a little secret... and guess who finds out about it...</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Children of the Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scigirl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scigirl/gifts).



> For Scigirl, the winning bidder for my fic for the AO3 Auction. The prompt we settled on is actually the Summary of this story...

      “Arthur!  You look terrible!  Here, sit down.”

Martin had never seen his friend so pale.  Impossibly pale and slightly teetery on his feet.

      “Oh, thanks Skip.  That does help.  I was feeling a bit wobbly and, well, I _am_ still feeling a bit wobbly, but my bum’s doing a better job of keeping me from falling over than my feet were doing, so hurray for my bum!”

      “Are you sick?  Arthur, you need to tell me if you’re not feeling well.”

      “Oh… just a bit hungry, that’s all.  It’s been awhile since I had a little snack and I sometimes get a bit out of sorts when I’m feeling peckish.”

Martin took another long look at his friend and if Arthur hadn’t eaten, it must have been days since he had a meal because it almost looked like he’d lost weight.  His looked drawn and tired and… this was not good.  And definitely not Arthur-like.

      “Ok, then let me get you something.  I’m sure Carolyn has something stored away in her office…”

      “Not today.  I already looked.  I think Mum sort of forgot, which isn’t her fault, because I forgot, too, and it’s not like when I was a little kid and she had to do all of my remembering for me.  I’m supposed to remember things on my own now and usually I do a good job, or at least not a terrible job… most of the time… but I just…”

It took a hard shake to get Arthur’s attention focused back on the conversation and Martin’s concern skyrocketed.

      “That’s it.  We’re getting in my van and I’m buying you something to eat.  And if that’s not the problem, then I’m damn well taking you to a doctor.  Come on…”

Arthur tugged his arm back gently as Martin tried to pull him up from his chair.

      “That’s so nice of you, Skip!  Really, that’s very, very nice but it won’t work.  I’m completely sorry because I know you’re trying to help and that means a lot, you being so kind to me, but a little nibble right now’s not going to do a lot.”

      “Then it’s straight to A&E.  We can call Carolyn and…”

      “They don’t like seeing us at A&E, at least not for this and I don’t want to make anyone cross just because I didn’t remember my little snack.  For the last day or three.”

      “Three days!  Ok, now I know I need to get you some help because if you haven’t eaten anything for three days, _three days_ … no wonder you’re not thinking clearly!”

      “Well, I can’t say I haven’t eaten anything.  I mean, I had a very nice dinner last night; Mum let me order pizza and we even had some canned orange slices for me to put on my half to go with the lovely sausage and onions.  And then there was the big muffin I ate this morning on the way here from that nice little shop that’s got the paper flowers taped up in the window.  Oh!  And then we had that passenger not show up and well, Mum plans very carefully for the meals, so there was one left and I couldn’t let that go to waste, so I had that.  There were some extra nuts, too, only about seven little packages worth, and I had those while I was hoovering GERTI…”

Martin barely ate that much in a week!

      “Arthur!  How can you be in this shape if you’ve been dining like an emperor?”

      “Do you think emperors eat pizza and muffins, Skip?  I would have thought they’d have had much posher food than that, but pizza and muffins _are_ very good and I guess that emperors can have whatever they want to eat, even if it’s not fancy.  I mean, they’re emperors!  Who’s going to say no?”

      “Ok, let’s forget about the emperors for a moment.  You look like you’re about to pass out from low blood sugar or something, but you’ve been eating enough… I’m sorry, Arthur, but I think you’re really sick and not just hungry.  Let’s get you some help."

      “No, Skip… well, yes, I could do with a spot of help, but I _am_ hungry and that’s the problem.  You have to believe that this time I do know what I’m talking about, which is brilliant if you think about it!”

This was not Martin’s area of strength and he truly had no idea how to handle things besides knocking his friend unconscious and dragging him off or calling an ambulance and having them deal with the stubborn steward.

      “Then why don’t you tell me what’s wrong, Arthur?  I’m sorry, but you’re really not making much sense.”

      “Oh!  Yeah… I guess it might be a hard thing to follow since… you promise not to tell, right?”

No.

      “Of course, I won’t tell a soul.”

      “Ok, it’s like this.  I have a secret.”

And the dam of information bursts open.

      “Good, that’s a start.  First though… is this secret relevant to what we’re talking about right now?”

      “That’s a great question!  And yes, it is.”

      “Wonderful.  Now, am I permitted to actually know this secret?”

Arthur’s face scrunched into nearly impossible contortion of features all indicating he was applying every bit of his reasoning powers to the problem.

      “Maybe.”

The information floods through the valley, sweeping away the people and dwellings as if they were child’s toys.

      “And what will tip the balance towards _yes_?“

      “You have to promise not to tell anyone else.”

      “And is anyone a term that means everyone in the world, or in the way you sometimes use it which means people you haven’t met before but now that you have you think they’re brilliant and now they’re not anyone they’re your friend instead?”

      “That’s another great question!  You’re really on fire today, Skip!”

      “Thank you, that means a lot.  Now, which is it?”

      “Oh!  _Anyone_ anyone.  Mum’s fairly adamant about that and you know how she gets when she’s adamant.  _Whuff_.”

So Carolyn was aware of Arthur’s little secret, meaning it couldn’t be too terrible or she would have done something about it by now.

      “Then I promise not to tell _anyone_ anyone, but you have to let me help you, Arthur.  You’re looking worse by the second!”

And he was.  Arthur color was rapidly going a very unhealthy grey and even his eye were having hard time focusing on the objects around him.

      “Yeah, I am feeling a bit more sick than I was a few moments ago, which was already really sick so now it’s very sick and very is much worse than really.”

      “Arthur!  Just tell me what I need to know to help you!”

      “Right!  Forgot about that for a moment.  Sorry, Skip but all the nice pictures in my brain are getting a little fuzzy and it’s hard to tell which are the lovely doggies and which are the otters and who’s up first and who’s sort of waiting their turn.”

      “ARTHUR!”

      “Yes!  Ok… I’m… well, I’m one of _them_.”

      “Them?  Do you know how many ways there are to define _them_?”     

      “I hadn’t really thought about it, but now that I do… lots!  There are lots and lots of ways and some are just brilliant and others aren’t very nice, but wow… that’s a very good point.  Skip, did you do something today to make yourself especially smart?”

Right now, Martin felt like the stupidest person in the world since he couldn’t even convince his friend to seek help for what was obviously a very serious problem.

      “Then reward me for my especially smartness by helping me to help you!”

      “Brilliant!  Right… where was I?  Oh yes!  Well, you know how there are all sorts of people… that’s right along with the _them_ chat we just had, isn’t it?... well, I’m sort of one of those types that the other types sometimes don’t like much, which is incredibly mean and stupid because we’re nice!  Well, some of us are nice and I admit that I haven’t met everyone yet because there are a lot of us out there, but we don’t tend to tell people because they get scared and sometimes do bad things.  Not that I think that would happen in Fitton, but Mum says I have to be careful anyway.  And there are people _do_ know, like at the A &E and the man who comes by once a year from the government to say hello and ask how I’m doing.  He’s a very nice person and even Mum doesn’t try and toss him out on his ear like she does the one who comes to talk about the taxes.”

Government?  Arthur was being monitored by the government?  Oh no…

      “Arthur, are you a vampire?”

      “BRILLIANT!  I didn’t even have to tell you and you figured it out on your own.  This really is a brainy day for you, Skip!”

Arthur Shappey?

      “How?  How did I not know this?”

      “Well, we don’t look any different than other people and we do all the same things like dance and eat cake and the things they put in movies about light and garlic are just silly.  I had LOTS of garlic on my pizza last night, which I may have forgotten to tell you, and we do normal jobs and have normal pets and normal… everything.”

      “You just drink blood.”

      “Mum told me that it gives us something we need, but that’s the only way to get it.  And it’s not every day that I have to have my little snack, but I did leave it a bit too long this time and I must have had the last of the packets that Mum gets from the people at the hospital, but not the A&E because they tend to get a bit stern when you’re brought there and they have to give you a few packages of blood with one of those IV’s you see on the doctor shows on the telly.  There’s normally a few in the secret fridge in Mum’s office, but there wasn’t any when I checked and… well, I’ve gotten a bit sickly now, haven’t I?”

      “How… did you get bitten?”

      “No!  Well, I _have_ been bitten, of course.  Snoopadoop does it every time I try to take away her Mr. Squeaky, so we now have a rule in the house that no one is allowed to take away Mr. Squeaky, even if Mr. Squeaky is being a bit rude and, well, squeaky.”

      “Vampire, Arthur…”

      “Oh yes!  Well, it actually takes a lot to make someone a vampire.  There’s this list of steps and I did pretend once on my stuffed kangaroo and it took forever!  Not that Sir Jumpsalot turned into a vampire kangaroo, you understand, but if he did it would have been rather amazing since, one, he was stuffed and, two, he’s a kangaroo and, three, I couldn’t actually do all of the steps since he was, one, stuffed and, two, a kangaroo.”

      “Ok, I think I’ve followed that about as well as I am going to, so how _did_ this happen?”

      “Apparently you can also catch it like you caught your ginger hair and little feet.”

      “You’re saying it’s genetic.  That’s not… unreasonable.  Does that mean Carolyn is one, too?  That _would_ explain a great many things.”

      “It would, wouldn’t it!  But, nah… Mum and Dad aren’t, but Dad’s Grandad and Mum’s Great Grandad were and that’s why I am, which I’m rather thankful for, because I do have to admit that Mum would make a very scary vampire.  She’s already a bit shouty and we really don’t need her being a bit bitey, as well.”

Unlike the very large teddy bear sitting in front of Martin, who didn’t look like he could bite a biscuit without apologizing.

      “Do you have… the fangs?”

      “I sure do!  Would you like to see them?”

The lizard brain in Martin’s head screamed NO!, but the part that made him very curious about new things shouted it down.

      “Very much.”

      “Hurray!  I was worried that you might get a bit frightened when you found out, because that does happen, the man from the government said so, just like Mum, but you’re not!  I really should have known better since you’re the Captain and Captains can’t be frightened by little things like teeth.”

Arthur opened his mouth and Martin stared transfixed as two long and pointed fangs dropped down making Arthur now look like… a teddy bear with fangs.

      “And see!  I can make them dance.”

Which mean lifting his fangs up and down, all the way or a little, and Martin knew he could probably do that for quite some time.

      “That’s wonderful, Arthur.  I bet you do that when you’re at home and reading or watching telly don’t you?”

      “Brilliant!  That’s exactly what I do sometimes.  Or when I’m thinking very hard.”  It’s a great way to dance without actually having to get up and use your whole body, though that is incredibly fun, too.”

      “Yes, I do know how much you like to dance.  But, ummm…. do you have any… superpowers?”

      “Like Batman?”

      “He doesn’t so much have superpowers as a lot of money to buy things that makes it look like he does.  Think… well, I hope this doesn’t offend you, but think on what they write about in the books.  Can you do any of that?”

      “You mean like turn into a bat or hypnotize people?”

      “More or less.”

      “Skip, you really are very silly sometimes.  That’s books!  We can’t do any of that, though turning into a bat could be a brilliant thing since I could fly around and meet lots of bat and bird friends.  Of course, I’d also have to eat bugs, which doesn’t sound very appetizing.  Oh!  I know!  I could be a fruit bat.  They eat fruit and I do like a nice piece of fruit.  Super!”

      “But you can’t actually become a bat.”

      “Yes, there is that.  And I don’t have super strength or a spooky accent or anything like that, either.  I’m just me, Skip.  I can’t do anything you couldn’t do, though I might have to show you how to make some of my secret recipes since you can’t right now, but we can do that one day when we’re not flying.  Right!  I’ll put a reminder for that on my phone because it would be so much fun to spend the day in the kitchen showing you how to cook something that’s not just pasta or potatoes.”

Though _that_ might be interesting, what was neither interesting nor fun was hearing Arthur’s voice getting weaker, but Martin had an idea about what he needed to do to keep Arthur calm and get him the help he needed.  Not that it was a solution he was keen on, but this was _his friend_.

      “Arthur, since you’ve got the fangs and all… could you just have a drink from me to feel better?”

It was a common thing to see Arthur Shappey shocked, but this level of shock was extreme even for him.

      “Arthur?”

      “I… I’ve never had my little snack from a real person before.”

      “Wait… never?  What about Carolyn or Gordon?”

      “No.  They tried when I was a baby and I just got sick.  The government man said it’s often like that between babies and their parents, though I could drink Mum’s milk just fine.”

Not an image that Martin had ever wanted in his head and now it was there to stay.

      “So, it’s always been donated blood?”

      “Yep.  The government man said that I could have my snack from animals, but I can’t do that!  Even though it really doesn’t hurt them, well, the biting part probably would…”

One large whirlpool in Martin’s river of fear.

      “… but I couldn’t do that to some nice little animal!”

And he couldn’t.  If there was one unwavering truth in the world it lay in the kindness of Arthur Shappey.  Vampire.

      “Well, then this will be new for both of us, since I’ve never been bitten.  I’ve never even met a vampire before, actually.  But I do want you to do it because you are scaring me terribly and if I can fix what’s wrong, then I’m damned well going to do it!”

Martin thanked the powers that be that his voice didn’t crack and ruin his moment of emphasis.

      “Wow… that the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me, Skip.  Oh, I’m getting a bit misty…”

      “So long as you’re also getting a bit less hungry, that’s ok.  Now, where on me do you… want to do it?”

      “I… _I_ have to decide?”

      “You _are_ the vampire.”

      “Yes, but you’re my… dinner.  _You_ should get to choose where you get fed on.”

      “I don’t know where the best spot is!”

      “I don’t either!”

      “Oh god… ok, here’s what we’ll do.  Just like in the movies.  You get your teeth ready and go for my neck.”

      “But, Skip… aren’t there important things in your neck?”

Probably, but biology hadn’t been Martin’s strongest subject in school.  And besides, everything you saw in the movies couldn’t be fake, could it?

      “I’m sure there are important things everywhere.  So… eat.”

      “Oh, that sounds rather dodgy, doesn’t it?  Now I don’t know if I can.”

      “Arthur Shappey!  You will immediately commence feeding on me!”

      “Oohh… Skip, I’m getting rather worried now.”

      “I am your Captain and, as we are still at the airfield, you operate under my command.  Now… start drinking.”

Arthur dithered a moment, but Martin refused to remove the stalwart and decisive expression from his face.  He put his hands on his hips too, just to cement his point.

      “Well, if you’re certain… could you… could you sit down here with me.  I’m not sure if I could stand up for very long right now.”

      “But there’s really nowhere to sit except in your lap.”

      “That’s ok, I don’t mind.  You’re very tiny, Skip, so you can’t weigh much.  And it’ll be like having a little cuddle between two mates.  You know, like we sometimes have to do when there’s no heat in our hotel and it’s winter and the water in the toilet’s frozen, but at least you can make steam with your breath and pretend to be a dragon that blows smoke and not fire, which might not make you a proper dragon, but as long as you have scales and wings, everything should be ok.”

Ah, those long frigid nights squashed between Arthur and Douglas under what few sheets and blankets they could find so they didn’t all freeze to death.  Special times made possible by Carolyn’s stranglehold on her purse strings.  There had been trips where there hadn’t even been a toilet to freeze except the one that you had to go outside behind a bush to use.

      “Fine, but tell me if I get too heavy or uncomfortable for you.  Do you… want me facing away or towards you?”

Martin had never noticed how thoroughly Arthur could blush, but he really went quite pink when he did.  With his roundish face, it was practically cherubic.  If it was appropriate to think of a vampire as a cherub.

      “I… I guess maybe facing me.  That way your legs might be a bit more comfy.”

      “Oh, ok.  That sounds fine.”

Settling slowly down onto Arthur’s lap, Martin realized suddenly just how much larger was Arthur than him.  Up close, it was easy to see that Arthur Shappey was a fairly big man, at least compared to his own size.  Somehow, Arthur seemed smaller when he was capering about his day, with his sunny smile and his unflinchingly happy outlook on life.  Now… well, he certainly didn’t appear small now.

      “That doesn’t feel so bad, does it, Skip?  I could sit like this all day and it would be brilliant!  Me and you.  We could play cards or I Spy or anything and be comfy the whole time.”

      “Arthur, are you procrastinating?”

Not that Martin disapproved of that idea, but it rather went against the whole point of being comfy on Arthur’s lap.

      “I must admit that I might be procrastinating a wee bit.”

      “Just go ahead and start.  I am fully prepared and in control of the situation.”

      “Oh!  Well then… oohh… Skip, I may have to give you a hug, too.  Would that be ok?”

No, that would not be ok, it would ridiculous.  Or it would have been until Martin pictured Arthur trying to feed from his neck without using his hands to help steady himself and realized _that_ was truly the more ridiculous idea.

      “That won’t be a problem.  Now… begin.”

Arthur nodded and leaned in, wrapping his arms around Martin, who jumped a little when he felt something brush against his neck.

      “Arthur, what are you doing?

      “Do I have to tell you?”

      “If you’re going to eat me… eat _from_ me… then yes, you do.”

      “Oh, I guess that’s fair.  I was smelling you.”

      “May I ask why?”

      “I’ve never really tried to smell a person and I thought that maybe I could smell you and find a good place to bite and…”

      “And?”

      “It sort of worked.  I can actually tell right where you’ve got some veins just from what the skin smells like over them.  That’s really handy if you think about it.  Here, hold on…”

      “ARTHUR!”

      “Sorry!  I just wanted to see if that piece _tasted_ differently and it does!  Brilliant!  I can use my tongue just like this and trace where your blood is going!”

Arthur smelling him was one thing, but licking a long, slow stripe up his neck was quite another!

      “Would you…”

      “This is amazing!  I bet I could run my tongue over any part of you and find out where the juicy blood vessels are hiding.  Oh, can we play that game?  Please, Skip!  It would be so much fun…”

Of course the one time someone _offers_ to run their tongue over his body, it’s Arthur.  Not that Arthur was a bad-looking chap.  He did have nice eyes and you couldn’t ask for anyone who’d show you more attention than you’d ever known and not just take what he wanted and leave you... arrgghhh!

      “We are _not_ playing tongue-games.  You are eating me and I am being eaten.  Right, that still didn’t come out like I wanted it to, but that’s what I’ve got, so there you go.”

      “Oh, fine.  I think.  Well, if you’re ready…”

      “I most certainly am.”

      “Ok, here goes…”

Martin was extremely glad that it didn’t hurt.  And it didn’t… at first.  Then it bloomed into two white-hot spots of pain that… didn’t feel bad in a very strange way.  There was a definite note of pain, but Arthur was gently sucking on his skin and that made the situation… odder, but more pleasant in some notably pain-lowering ways.  And he’d never really noticed that he _liked_ having someone suck on his neck.  Probably because no one ever had.  And then there were the very warm arms folded around him, holding him, quite tenderly to be honest, with hands running in lazy patterns over his back and shoulders.  Funny, he’d always been scared of stories about vampires, but this was actually quite marvelous…

__________

      “Skip?”

      “Hmmmm?”

      “Skip?  Are you ok?  I didn’t…”

      “ ‘m fine, Arthur.  Very fine.”

Martin opened the eyes he never realized he’d closed and stared into Arthur’s deep brown ones, slowly noticing that the steward’s lips were much more red than normal.  As was his chin.  And wasn’t that a cute cherry-colored spot almost right at the tip of his nose…      

      “Are you sure?  You sound a little wonky.”

As the cobwebs cleared, Martin took a good look inside his brain and realized that yes, he was sure.

      “I’m positive.  But how are you?  Did it… work?”

It appeared that it did.  Despite the splashes of red, Arthur’s skin looked far more normal than it had and his eyes were aware and clear.  And still starting at him.  Very much at him.

      “That was…”

      “Brilliant?”

      “YES!  Oh my heavens, Skip… that was the absolute best!  And I mean the absolute best out of all the bests in my whole life!”

Arthur’s grin stretched wide and Martin had to laugh at the sight of Arthur’s brilliant smile supplemented by two large fangs and blood that looked like red finger paint.  Which actually _was_ something he’d seen before on Arthur’s face.  More than once.

      “Do I… you know.  Taste good?”

      “Good?  BRILLIANT!  That was the best snack I have ever had!  You taste amazing!  And…”

Arthur’s eyes dropped a little and his gleaming smile lowered its brightness to a quiet glow.

      “I really liked that we were cozy and warm and getting to cuddle a bit.  That part was… it was rather wonderful, wasn’t it?”

An image suddenly popped into Martin’s head of Arthur, all alone, having to suck blood out of one of those plastic bags or even drink it out of a glass.  Already the steward had to keep this side of his life a secret, but to get no enjoyment at all out of it...

      “It _was_ wonderful.  I thought it was going to be more painful than it was, but I’d have to truthfully say I liked it.  Even the cuddling.”

      “Yeah?”

      “Yeah.”

Arthur raised his eyes and Martin had to wonder if he’d ever noticed what a cute little nose Arthur had to go along with his rather striking eyes.  A nose that one of Martin’s fingers cleaned of the single drop of blood it was wearing.

      “Arthur… you’re not going to get into trouble for this, are you?  I know there are laws and things…”

      “Oh!  That’s a good point.  A very good and smart point.”

      “Then can you address my good and smart point?”

      “Right!  Yes.”

      “You are!”

      “No!  I meant that ‘yes,’ I can address it, but ‘no’ I won’t get into trouble.  It’s ok if the other person lets you, at least that’s what it says in my rules book, which is sort of like your manual for GERTI, but the government man gives me a new one every year and you change GERTI’s rules all the time!  Especially when Douglas is being a bit of a handful.  I’ve just… I’ve just never known anyone I thought I’d be able to talk to about who I am… who would be ok with this.  Who would be ok with me.”

That was a feeling Martin knew all too well and it prompted him to make a decision, even though he hadn’t actually gone to the trouble to ask himself the question.

      “Good.  That’s good.  And… if you want to, I mean… we can do this again.”

Martin thought Arthur had looked shocked before, but this time made the last look weak and pitiful.  Maybe the blood added a certain gravitas…

      “We can?  You’d let me feed off of you again?”

      “If you’d like that.  Would you?”

      “That would be absolutely brilliant!  That would… oh, Skip, I can’t believe that you’d let me do it!  And I promise that I won’t hurt you or be too greedy or anything.  Though that last bit might be a tad tricky since you are _very_ tasty, I must say.”

Being called tasty was not a normal compliment one received, but since Martin rarely ever got any form of compliment, he’d take _tasty_ and wear it with pride.

      “Well, since I know now that it doesn’t hurt and I can replace whatever you drink down, I don’t see a reason not to let you have your snack when you need it.  Or want it.  I mean… you don’t have to wait until you’re starving or anything, that would just be silly.  So, my neck is your neck, I guess.”

      “Or arm.”

      “Arm?”

      “Well, you do have blood in your arms.  And your legs.  I did like my manual said and put some spit on the holes in your neck to help them heal, oh!  but don’t worry that I have germs or anything, because the books says that I’m supposed to do that so you _don’t_ get germs!  Well, I would think that I should probably snack in other places too, to give everyone a chance to rest.  But I really did like your neck, so maybe next time it could be your arm, then your neck again, then somewhere on a leg, and then your neck again.  Or nothing but neck, since… oh, it was so very brilliant… I’ll have to check my book.  Or call the government man!  It’s part of his job to answer my questions and I haven’t had any for him up until now, so he should be thrilled to talk to me!  And don’t worry, Skip, I’ll tell him all about you and how nice you are to let me have you for dinner.”

Which would probably earn him a visit from the government man, but maybe that would give him a chance to have his own questions answered without having to bother or upset Arthur.

      “That sounds like a very good plan.  So, you’re feeling better?  Good enough to try and get home?  I’ll drive you tonight and we can come back for your car in the morning.”

      “Skip, I’m fine!  Now that I have your tasty blood in my stomach, everything is much better.  I won’t have a problem driving.  Though I really do wish now that I could just turn into a bat and fly home because when I drive, I tend to get distracted and stop for tea or books or balloons and then I spend all of my allowance and Mum gives me a talking to.  And I _really_ could do without a talking to…”

      “More the reason for me to give you a lift.  So let’s get up and…. oh my.”

Martin got to his feet and felt the world start to spin around him.

      “Skip!  Don’t worry, I’ve got you!  This is just like when the ladies came for the blood drive and you got spinny-headed, so they had to give you biscuits and juice and let you have a lie down.”

      “I do not need a lie down!  Just let me… just let me rest here a minute.”

And by here, Martin found he meant Arthur’s warm and surprisingly broad chest.  Which he was getting pulled more deeply into by those same arms that had made being a meal a very pleasant experience.

      “You rest as long as you like, Skip.  I really do feel fine, so _I’ll_ be the one driving _you_ home, I think.  And maybe we can stop for biscuits and juice, too.”

Right now, that sounded… brilliant.

      “I hereby cede my command to you, Steward Shappey.  You have control.”

      “Really?”

      “Well, as soon as you wipe your face.  Can’t have the commander looking like he just, well, just got the position by eating the previous commander.”

      “Right!  Yeah, that might cause a bit of a flutter at the pastry shop.  Don’t worry, I keep lots of those cleany-cloths in my car.  You cannot imagine how many times I wind up needing a cleany-cloth when I’m driving.”

Oh, that was a very easy thing to imagine.  And each new scenario was more bizarre than the last.

      “Ok, then it’s to your car, a quick wipe-down, a biscuit break and home.  We should get right on that.”

Any second now.  Really, no reason to tarry.  Feet on the path, and all that.

      “Would you rather stand like this for a few more minutes, Skip?”

Since that sounded much less like a question and much more like a request, Martin decided that he had a new plan.

      “Oh maybe just for a _few_ more.  If it’s not too much trouble.”

Martin felt Arthur’s arms tighten and heard a very soft ‘none at all’ filter down to his ears.  Maybe next time, he could buy the biscuits.  Or treat Arthur to a film.  This may have been the most unexpected night of his life, but it was definitely shaping up to be one of the best… one that he would be very happy to repeat.


End file.
